RALEIGH – Today, North Carolina House Democrats completed the first stop on their statewide tour. Over the next couple of weeks, North Carolina Democrats will bring their strong health care message across the Tarheel State and show North Carolinians what a Democratic majority in the House will look like. Stops on the tour include Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville and Fayetteville.
Leader Darren Jackson was joined by Representatives Robert Reives, Rosa Gill and Gale Adcock, former Representative and First Vice Chair of the NCDP Bobby Richardson, as well as House Candidate Albert Kirby to discuss the importance of flipping the legislature and reversing the damage Republicans have caused during their decade of control.
House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson (HD-39)
“Republicans and Speaker Moore have had over a decade to expand Medicaid and they have refused every time. Tim Moore’s refusal means people have died, particularly babies who have died due to poor maternal health. The research shows refusing to expand Medicaid increases infant mortality. Moore’’s refusal to act has cost us billions of dollars in federal funds and thousands of health care jobs.
The outbreak of COVID-19 has made North Carolina’s health care failings front and center. If we want to start fixing health care, we need to elect people who will finally make meaningful change in North Carolina and vote out the politicians who do nothing. We are all in this together. We need public officials who understand this and who will act to help all North Carolinians get through this crisis, together.”
House Democratic Deputy Leader Robert Reives (HD-54)
“Many working North Carolinians, such as child care center workers, grocery store clerks, bus drivers and home health workers have been at the front line of this crisis. Their sacrifices and dedication to their jobs have kept us safe and have allowed our economy to remain open. They are the lifeline of this great state, and they deserve our sincere gratitude. As legislators, we owe them and all of those struggling due to this pandemic, to finally pass medicaid expansion in North Carolina. Expanding Medicaid has always been the morally right thing to do. But now, more than ever, it is the financially responsible measure to take.”
Representative Gale Adcock (HD-41)
“Not expanding Medicaid means that Republican leaders are willing to allow more than a half million North Carolinians to have untreated acute and chronic illnesses and to die from cancer because they were not screened, diagnosed and treated early when they had a chance to live. It means Republican leaders are willing to allow our rural hospitals to struggle and ultimately close due to financial collapse. And it means that Republican leaders are willing to ignore the opportunity for economic development and job growth in the health care sector.
Well, Democrats are not willing to ignore facts, tolerate human suffering and risk the public health consequences of long term health neglect. We need Medicaid expansion now and we are undeterred in our determination to make it happen.”
House Candidate Albert Kirby (HD-22)
“I am in support of Medicaid Expansion because communities like mine have gone too long without it. If Republican-led General Assembly had expanded Medicaid in 2019, more than 194,000 members of the working poor, who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little to purchase their own insurance plans, would currently have access to affordable coverage. More than half a million North Carolinians would have new access to quality and affordable health care.
Instead, North Carolinians across our state have to choose between paying their bills and putting food on the table. Rural Hospitals are closing and people facing addiction and mental health crises have lessening access to treatment.”